VISITOR
By  Sukrita Paul Kumar

INADEQUACY

I understand now

The enormous vacuum
Of the universe
Is
The projection of my self
( I cannot think my own thoughts)
I am generations away
From Adam
( I cannot feel my own feelings)

My slate is too messy
My psychiatrist has given up

The burden of idioms proverbs metaphors
Does not allow me free movement
I am rooted in
Marshy depressions

The bird and I; the tree and i
The snake lion cat fish and i
The insect bush flower thorns and i

Millions of
stars planets moons and suns
floating in the cosmos
The gaps in between
could have been filled

I cannot
Undertake the expedition alone

I need the connections
To shoulder life

HOPE

I am not an etherized patient

My alertness keeps me on my guard

You can’t touch my airy nothingness

Something might come out of
Nothingness

Like

The complete circular wetness
Out of
A bubble exploded

On a dry blank slate

VISITOR

The little minx
Crawled into me
Unawares

A perpetual conflict
I struggled with it
I played with it
I wanted it out
I shook with rage
The sky fell
The water boiled over

It was as stubborn as it was
It left no room for
Myself in my body
I hollered for help
And
When the door squeaked open,
I, terrorized,

Locked it quick

About the Author:

Sukrita Paul Kumar, born in Kenya, is a well-known poet and critic and she held the Aruna Asaf Ali Chair at Delhi University till recently. Formerly, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, she is Fellow of the International Writing Programme, Iowa (USA) & Hong Kong Baptist University. Honorary faculty, Durrell Centre at Corfu (Greece), she has been a recipient of many prestigious fellowships and residencies. A well-known poet, translator and an artist she has published several poetry collections and many critical books. Dream Catcher, Untitled and Poems Come Home (with Hindustani translations of her poems by Gulzar) are her recent collections of poems. Amongst her critical booksare Narrating Partition, Conversations on Modernism and The New Story. Her latest translation Blind (novel) has just been published by HarperCollins India. A guest editor of journals such as Manoa (Hawaii), she has held solo exhibitions of her paintings.